Google Docs to add presentation app this summer

Google will soon be rounding out its collection of web-based office apps with a presentation application, according to Google CEO Eric Schmidt. Schmidt spoke at this week's Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco, which is where he announced the company's plans for the presentation app. He did not give a time frame for when the app would be released to the public, but a post on the Official Google Blog confirmed the announcement and said that they expect the app to be released this summer.

Currently, Google Docs & Spreadsheets offers word processing and spreadsheet creation and editing, similar to that of Microsoft Office and other office suites. However, one advantage that Microsoft maintained over Google was the availability of PowerPoint, the nearly ubiquitous presentation creation app that is bundled with most versions of Office. The addition of a Google app to mirror PowerPoint's capabilities will complete the missing link in making Google Docs into something approaching a fully-fledged alternative to Office.

Google will not be building the application from scratch. They instead have acquired Tonic Systems, the creators of Java-based PowerPoint automation products. "They have some great technology for presentation creation and document conversion, and it will be a great addition as we add presentation sharing and collaboration capabilities to Google Docs & Spreadsheets," wrote engineering director Sam Schillace on the company's blog.

However, Schmidt maintained that it wasn't about competing with Microsoft, according to ZDNet. "We don't think its a competitor to Microsoft Office," he said in an onstage interview with John Battelle. "It's casual and sharing and a better fit to how people use the Web. My guess is many companies in the audience are building products like this or other variants of this using the emerging architecture."

Google may just be playing the humble card, though. The company has made similar denials when asked if it had any intention of taking enterprise business away from Microsoft. But while they argued that it was not an "us vs. them" venture back in February, Google VP of Engineering Doug Merrill did acknowledge that "for the first time, consumer-grade applications are good enough that they can be used by enterprises." It's clear that the addition of a web-based presentation app will only strengthen Google's position against competitors such as Microsoft in both the home and enterprise market.